Madam Speaker, I am honoured to speak in support of recognizing the month of March as Irish heritage month, a month in which we are encouraged to go green on St. Patrick's Day.
I would first like to thank my friend and colleague from across the aisle, the member for Etobicoke—Lakeshore, with whom I have the pleasure of working on the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, for moving this motion to highlight the many contributions Irish Canadians have made to our country and to celebrate Canada's Irish heritage. While I may not always agree with him at the justice committee, I am pleased that we could find some common ground across the Atlantic. As MPs, we share that we have all been said to have kissed the Blarney Stone from time to time.
I debated beginning my remarks today by singing Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral, a lullaby I often sang to my children, or a verse from when When Irish Eyes are Smiling, but I am told the Right Hon. Brian Mulroney, also very proudly of Irish descent, beat me to it, plus I understand that my friend, the member for Saskatoon—Grasswood, did enough singing for both of us when he spoke in support of this motion back in December.
Of course, our former prime minister is not the lone distinguished Irish Canadian. We can thank Ireland for blessing Canada with many acclaimed artists, authors, athletes and business leaders: Stompin' Tom Connors, W.P. Kinsella, Connor McDavid, Michael J. Fox, Eugene O'Keefe and Shania Twain, to name a few.
I too am one of the more than 4.6 million Canadians whose ancestors hailed from Ireland. In fact, I am named after the beautiful green County Kerry in the southwest of Ireland, which is geographically the closest part of Ireland to Canada. My mother's name was Norah, meaning honour, another well-recognized Irish name. My maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Clynch, and her parents, John Clynch and Mary Moran, proudly stated their race as Irish in the census after moving to England. She came to Canada on a ship with my grandfather in 1910 and settled in St. Marys, Ontario, not too far from where we are today.
My grandmother lost twin red-haired brothers in World War I, a war Canada fought alongside its allied partners. Her brothers tragically passed within 24 hours of each other during the war and were both laid to rest in Belgium. That Irish red hair continues to show in two of my daughters and many cousins and nieces.
My grandmother's sister later followed her to Canada, and much of my family continues to live in southern Ontario. Some are on a dairy farm and others work in London, but of course my smartest relatives moved to British Columbia, where I was born and raised. My grandmother had five children, all born here in Canada, and passed away in her mid-sixties in B.C., where she worked dipping chocolates for Purdys, an enduring and celebrated chocolatier and confectionery based in Vancouver.
Decades later, my eldest daughter, Hannah, was so proud of her Irish heritage that she married a descendant of Joseph Plunkett, a famous Irish nationalist and poet who helped orchestrate the 1916 Easter rising and died as a martyr to his cause. He in turn was a descendant of the 1600s Irish saint, Saint Oliver Plunkett, also martyred, whose head remains on display in a golden shrine at St. Peter's Church in Drogheda, Ireland.
Yes, these connections can get people a free Guinness in any Irish pub.
My daughter and her husband John named their children Ronan, meaning “little seal”, and Aidan, meaning “the fiery one”, both traditional Irish names, and yes, they both share red hair and blue eyes with their mom and less than 2% of the world's population. I might add that somehow John thinks Irish rugby is more important than the CFL, and that is where I draw the line.
My family's story of migration is a familiar one for most Canadians, whether from Ireland or elsewhere. The Irish first began migrating to Canada in the 17th century, long before Confederation. Migration would continue in the 18th century, with mostly small groups settling on the east coast, and a big wave of Irish migrants came to Canada in the 19th century at a time when Ireland faced economic troubles and the Great Famine.
By the 1870s, the Irish had become the most populous ethnic group in most Canadian cities. Because of the high number of Irish migrants and the shared language and religion they had with the English and French who arrived before them, the Irish, along with the Scots—which is the other side of my family—had a considerable impact on Canadian culture and values at a time when our great nation was beginning to take shape.
Irish migrants also played a critical role in both Canada's politics and the economic expansion of the mid-19th century. However, it was not always easy. The Canadian-Irish often faced discrimination and poor working conditions. Despite this unfair treatment, they helped build critical infrastructure, like the Rideau Canal, and impressive architectural feats, like Montreal's Saint Patrick's Basilica.
One particularly large contribution by an Irish Canadian came from Thomas D'Arcy McGee, a Conservative minister of agriculture, immigration and statistics, and a father of Confederation, who attended the Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences of 1864 as a Canadian delegate. McGee was a strong advocate for Confederation. He famously said, in 1860, “I see in the not remote distance one great nationality bound like the shield of Achilles, by the blue rim of ocean.... I see within the ground of that shield the peaks of the western mountains and the crests of the eastern waves.”
As Monday marked the celebration of International Women's Day, a day that I have decided I should celebrate all week, I must mention the tremendous contribution of Irish Canadian Nellie McClung in her role as a member of the Famous Five. This group of intelligent, resilient women fought to have women recognized as qualified persons within the Constitution Act, 1867, or the British North America Act, which allowed women to be appointed to the Senate.
After initially losing in the Supreme Court of Canada, where justices took an originalist view of the meaning of the phrase “qualified persons”, the Famous Five took the case across the ocean to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, our highest court of appeal at the time. In 1929, the court of last resort held that women did in fact fit within the meaning of “qualified persons”, clearing the way for women like me, and the 100 women who presently serve as members of Parliament, to hold political office.
The strong bilateral relationship Canada and Ireland enjoy today is based not just on our shared history and strong familial and cultural ties, but also on our bilateral trade. Governed by CETA, trade between our countries has been steadily increasing in past years. Canada exported 672 million dollars' worth of products to Ireland last year and imported products worth nearly $3.2 billion. As for B.C., nearly $20 million of exports were sent to Ireland in 2019, including iron, steel tanks, plywood, lumber and more.
Tourism is critical to the local economy in the Lower Mainland. It is an industry that I have continuously advocated for and that I hope will rebound from the challenges it continues to face amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
I am eagerly awaiting the day when it will be safe to travel internationally again and Canadians and the Irish alike can visit each other's beautiful countries, experiencing all the wonderful things our cultures have to offer, and I can finally visit County Kerry, Ireland. I also look forward to when it will be safe to celebrate my Irish roots in person with the wonderful folks at the Irish Club of White Rock, in my riding.
In the meantime, I hope everyone will join me in celebrating Canada's proud Irish roots and the many contributions made by Irish Canadians, like my grandmother, who sailed across the Atlantic and made Canada my family's home for generations, by voting in support of the motion. I toast all those celebrating St. Patrick's Day next week. There is certainly no shortage of good Irish beer, so put on some U2 and enjoy it responsibly.
Finally, I want to say that there is someone else of Irish heritage making a mark in our country right now. I am speaking of the member for Durham, the leader of Canada's official opposition and Canada's next prime minister.